This was a hike with New Haven Hikers. We walked around the state park and enjoyed the views from the Ridge before descending towards Lake Wintergreen and heading back.

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Carl Testa Trio did such a stellar job Saturday at Never Ending Books in New Haven that the crowd forgot about the wind and rain blowing outside and immersed in an hour of music indulgence as the trio played a set of 5 pieces of their original compositions.

Cark Testa trio is:
Carl Testa, String Bass
Mike McGinnis, Clarinet
Aaron Siegel, Percussion

The set played included the following pieces:

Intent
Improvisation
Trio (2009)
17 (melodic) and Improvisation(2 clips)
Ballad

All six pieces can be watched in the same order they were played on the following YouTube playlist:

The Farmington Canal was built in the 1800s to facilitate trade between the towns of Connecticut, it was what some say a reaction to Errie’s canal in NY state. It was originally meant for boats to move merchandise but later railroads proved cheaper and faster and the canal was ditched and a rail road covered the same tracks. It remained in business till 1980s when floods damaged the rail lines and by that time, trucks were taking place of railroads in shipping.

Today, the canal is mainly a pedestrian trail for walking, jogging, biking & more. It stretches between New Haven, CT all the way to Northampton, MA for a total of 84 miles some of which are paved(such as the section you see in the footage)!

I wonder what would happen to the I95 200 years from now!

P.S: The pictures are for a timber wolf(pet wolf) owned by a meetup member of the group I was with on this walk. The name is Kane.Beautiful, eh?

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On January 30th 2010, Broadcloth trio played two sets of their original compositions with two aspiring guests. Broadcloth is a free improv Chamber group that includes:

Anne Rhodes, Vocal
Nathan Bontrager, Cello
Adam Matlock, Accordion and Recorders(he also provided some voices)

The guests were

Gabriel Bolaños Chamorro, electronic spectral music composition and guitar
Steve Zieminski, percussion and drums

The trio played the following pieces(in the order they were played):

“Intro piece” composed by Nathan Bontrager

“Windows In Walls” composed by Adam Matlock

“In Stitches” composed by Anne Rhodes and inspired by an embroidery she had made

”State Crunch Singularity” composed by Gabriel Bolaños Chamorro and includes electronic renderings of previously played tracks with acoustic performance

“Free improv”

After the break, Gabriel and Steve joined the trio in playing the following pieces:

“Intro Piece II” revised with the addition of Gabriel on the guitar

The quintet then played a circular series of duets where two performers would play simultaneously with one of them leading while the other musician provides the atmosphere and transfer the rhythm to the next musician. This was really outstanding. Gabriel played the guitar and Steve the percussions.

“In Stitches II” was revisited with Steve adding the percussions

The quintet finally finished the performance with an improv(improvisation) finale.

You may find all the video clips captured during the performance on YouTube (links are provided on the names of the individual pieces above). Alternatively, I created a playlist that shows the pieces one at a time in the same order they were played, here it goes:

Still photos of the performance follow:

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This was a hangout with a friend from my hometown in New Haven, CT last week. We met in a cafe and then decided to take a walk around. I was fascinated with some of the building structures that were lying around and started, surprise..surprise, shooting!

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